Discussion:I yelled at a client....Now what?

Client came in for their appointment. Brought son's info with them. Since I have a minimum fee for work I actually do, Mother (who wears the pants in the family) was very explicit that she wanted "somebody else" in my office to do the return, since it would be cheaper that way.

I assigned son's return to "somebody else" then subsequently fired "somebody else". Unfortunately, son's return got misplaced during this transition.

I found the return at 8:00AM on April 15th while going through the office to take inventory and do extensions. Mother calls me at 10:00 asking about son's return. I tell her I just found it, explain how it got misplaced, apologize profusely, and tell her I'm filing an extension because I don't do returns on the 15th, and I am busy filing extensions. Mother starts complaining about how she doesn't like extensions and what about penalties. I tell her I have no idea what the son owes, but I will cover all penalties and I'm not going to charge for the return to make up for my mistake. But Mother won't let up. She keeps pushing and poking until I snap. I push everything aside, tell my staff I'm not to be interrupted, and do son's return.

I call mother at noon. Tell her to come get a draft copy to review. And tell her I need an answer by 3:00 so we can transmit and process the return so son can make payment by 4:30, which is when the local post office closes.

Mother shows up at 4:00 and starts picking apart the return line by line. My staff is being very patient with her (I'm busy calculating extensions). At 4:15 she is still at it, and starts complaining about a $24 underpayment of estimated tax penalty.

At this point I lose it. Because the staff member whose time she is sucking is processing extensions with $244,000 of estimated payments going with them, and we have less than 15 minutes to hit the post office. I come out and say this.

(I've edited it. You can subsitute the dirty words in the appropriate places).

"Why are you complaining about a $24 penalty? I've alrealy told you that I'm covering all penalties and I'm not charging your son for the return to make things right. Now, I've already said I'm sorry, given your son a free return, and am covering all penalties. What the heck else do you want? Because we have 100 extensions with payment that we need to get to the post office by 4:30 and it's now 4:17, and we don't have time to mess with your return any more. I pushed everything aside to do your son's return and make you happy, but you're still complaining. Make up your mind. Do you want to transmit the return or not? Because I haven't got time to mess with you right now?"

Mother starts to stutter and says "Well I dont' mean to be a bother"

I cut her off and say "Yes you do. You used to work for a CPA (as a secretary). You remind me of it at every appointment. So you know how valuable time is on the 15th. If you want to beat on me about my mistake, do it after the 15th. I will sit and listen and take it all day. But right now, I don't have time to mess with you. Do you want to transmit the return or not?"

She says yes and scoots out the door.

At this point I feel bad. I like Son and Dad. I'm in the Knights with them. But Mother is a grade A battleax. I'm sending son his client folder with a note apologizing profusely for my error, and a bill for no charge. If I lose the client, I'll miss Dad and Son, but not Mother. Is there anyting else I should do? Or what else should I do?

I had an uneventful 15th, because I e-filed all extensions on the 14th. We had already called everyone who hadn't returned to ask who needed an extension so I had my list.

Everyone who brought info in by 4/9 had a completed return done.

I don't understand the mad rush on the 15th. I've been in business 1 year less than you and never, never have been rushed on the 15th. We only had 3 clients pick up that day, as we pushed everyone else to pick up on the 13th and 14th, so that I'd have time to fix any oversights (which there always seems to be - this year I was supposed to know that the deposit slips meant that the hairdresser quit her W-2 job and opened her own salon and those were her income).

So really, you've got to look at your process and somehow take that stress off the last day and maybe spread it out over the week before.

If it isn't possible to work more the week before, then just start doing the extensions the week before. You've got an idea of who you won't be able to finish by then anyways, don't you? If not, you've got serious office management problems.

Sounds like she deserved it and she realized it. She backed down from what you infer. I also believe the father and son realize that as well. As a fellow Knight, we know what is really said about the wives at the Hall.

Seriously, I know you feel bad. As far as what you can do now, you have done all you can for now. See what happens. I know the wait is killing you, but the ball is their court (pardon the bad cliche). Now let them come back and see if all is forgiven.

Tom

From the real estate tax deduction on Schedule A, to ethanol and biodiesel credits, to everybody in my area jumping onto the ethanol/biodiesel bandwagon and having to wait on a K-1, to the Midwest disaster area relief provisions, to the Missouri health insurance deduction, none of our clients had everything they needed when they came to their appointment. Either that, or the forms were delayed for efile through the IRS.

I guess I'm not as fortunate as you to have perfectly trained clients who adhere to a schedule and bring everything with them to their appointment.

Someday I hope I'll be as good as Kevin.

Jdug is right. I'm too softhearted and hate to extend anybody. So I push as hard and far as I can before I call the season. If I had just had some balls and stuck to my guns with the battleax it probably could have all be avoided.

Please don't tell me that the son is 35 years old, but it would make sense if he is.

I also don't take potential new clients calls in the last few days, and the last two days were really slow, just waiting for the last piece of info for a couple of clients and I went shopping with son, went to the gym and relaxed.